Why I miss my Buell I have purchased, ridden, and sold many a bike. But none have come calling back to me in those rare moments of silent garage moto-meditations like that blue M2 Cyclone. I was highly dubious of this bike from the beginning--spindly looking frame, Harley engine, wimpy looking front brake, old-school single round headlight, belt drive. But one test ride convinced me otherwise, with the monster down-low torque, the V+H SS2R rumble, and the crazy engine noises seeping through the Forcewinder air intake--I recognized "character" immediately. I knew this would be a stonkin' city bike that would occasionally enjoy a blast down to Alices. It was hilarious to ride. At low speeds, you could spot bumps in the road, and goose the throttle when the front wheel hit, instant wheelie. It was jetted a tad rich, causing backfires when going off-throttle while downhill that were way louder than a 12-gauge turkey load. I remember idling at stoplights and singing along with my bike--"Potato potato potato......" Then there was the occasional explosion through the intake--bonus!! While warming it up after a cold start on the sidestand, it would typically walk backward from the engine vibrations. Speaking of vibes, the girls I rode on the back seemed to love this bike. This bike was the only bike I have ever left the passenger pegs on. This bike could leave a trail of over-sensitive car-alarms wherever it went. Engine braking was massive and sounded like mechanical destruction. The Cyclone was also easy to lean way over. The clutch lever required ten times the force of any jap bike--that's manly, you know. For some reason, this bike begged to have the rear-tire locked-up for a dramatic sliding arrival at my destinations. And the seating position?? Cruiser comfortable ergos with a v-twin full-body massage. It was also the first unfaired bike I've owned, so 90 mph really felt like I was going faster than I've ever gone before--haha. Anybody a gear-head? Anybody out there love wrenching in the garage with a cold brew and some pumpin' tunes? Then you would like the Cyclone, 'cause if you didn't spend a night a week tightening every single fastener, the bike would leave a trail of parts from point A to point B. I was buying thread-lock by the quart. Parts trips down to Dudley-Perkins HD were interesting--the parts dept. considered it a nuisance to sell Buell parts like a primary drive tensioner pad ($15) and front brake rotor ($90) when german tourists were lined up dumping thousands on chromed HD accessorizing crap. The Buell factory manual was written in english by native writers--I was hard pressed to find a single grammatical or spelling mistake. In addition, the Buell required metric, standard, AND Torx tools for simple tasks, a fact I first hated, but grew to enjoy as I mastered changing my babys' diapers. The Buell fitted my lone wolf image perfectly. The HD biker crowd was offended by the upstart, the sportbike crowd was offended by the lack of performance stats, the cruiser crowd was offended by their confusion, and the Buell crowd couldn't be bothered unless it was a modded-for-race X-1 or a spankin' new XB12. Well, I sure do miss my M2. But if you are thinking of selling one, and are happy to read a post extolling the virtues of this bike, because it might help you sell your bike, and maybe even get a decent price for it, FORGEDDABOUDIT!! I need a deal, bro! Later!! Alex
Ah. Spoken like a true masochist that loves machinery for it's own sake. BTDT through various BSAs, Triumphs (pre-modern era). Hope you find another one to indulge yourself with. I'm tempted by Buells, but I think that I have become too lazy and spoiled by Hondas and BMWs to put up with one. -- PC Paul 89 PC800 77 R100RS Trip pics at: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/paul1cart/albums/ "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society" - Theodore Roosevelt
You'd be bored with the new ones, then. They're pretty problem free.. Click on the video. http://www.davidcohen.co.nz/flashvid/tubecover.html
